Melvin Watt: “Later this week, the United States Senate is scheduled to consider the President's nomination of Richard Cordray as the…”

“Later this week, the United States Senate is scheduled to consider the President's nomination of Richard Cordray as the person to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And while our rules don't allow us to meddle much in the Senate activities, I do want to spend a minute or two just talking about the importance of the nomination and confirmation of Richard Cordray and the importance of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and talk a little bit about the background of why we have a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The purpose of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is to promote a fair, honest, and transparent marketplace to help consumers compare cost, benefits, and risk of consumer financial products. Consumer financial products are perhaps among the most complicated products that consumers have to deal with; credit card terms, mortgages, and the kinds of things that resulted in a financial meltdown in our economy. Now prior to the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, there was, in every one of the regulatory bodies, a responsibility to deal with consumer protection. Unfortunately, none of those agencies had consumer protection and education as their highest priority. All of them were looking at--not very well, I will say to you--the safety and soundness of the financial industry, the banks and various components of the financial industry.…”